Music. For people with ears.

I’m not going to write a load of individual blogs for these tracks. This will be my, and our, final ever post. These songs are my home recorded demos of what potentially would have ended up recorded properly by the whole band on album 3. Why not download them for free now and give them to a friend, lover or enemy as a parting gift?

THAMES FROST FAYRE 1814
The Thames used to freeze over periodically. Mini ice ages we had in the past apparently. When that happened, London folks held markets on the ice. Brilliant. This conjures up some evocative imagery so I delved in to my Sigur Ros-stealing songbook and penned this number. We opened with it at our last few gigs and I really thought we were on the form of our lives as a band. Classic TBOTB really. Long build up, harmony vocals, layered guitars. Bosh. I was looking forward to doing more of the electronica-tinged percussion elements to this that we’d started to introduce live. More synth stuff too. Piano at the forefront. This was definitely where we were headed.

ANYBODY’S GUESS
Another song we’d only very recently popped in to our live set. Maybe 2 or 3 outings. Blissfields, Bestival and maybe Isle of Wight I believe saw this in action. I was going for a kind of Talking Heads feel. Listening to lots of Field Music too which is obvious here I think. I predict album 3 would have been half slow-build, piano-led electronic things and half up-tempo semi-funk. Would that have worked? Who cares. A pretty political song (which was a rarity for us) talking about where and why we’ve p’raps gone wrong with our generation. Eat your heart out Billy Bragg.

RAISE HIGH THE ROOFBEAM, CARPENTERS…
A little nod in the title to our good pals (and Ox & Elliotts other band) The Retrospective Soundtrack Players as they’d recorded a concept album about the ace novel ‘Catcher in the Rye’. ‘Raise High…’ is another short story that JD Salinger wrote and I thought it was a great post-rock song title so I cheekily pinched it. Another piano-led number with a bit of electronica thrown in. Indebt to Mogwai greatly here…especially their incredible Les Revenants soundtrack. This song was instrumental for a while too but that would have probably been too much of a rip-off so I flung some lyrics at it about THAT MOMENT. You know, the Eminen ‘Lose Yourself’ moment. P’raps we should have got Rhianna to guest on this. Then things might have turned out differently. The ending also sounds remarkably like that tune All Saints did for ‘The Beach’. TBOTB goes pop. We ended our set with it live a couple times in embryonic form and it went down well. Shame we never got to flesh this one out.

LITTLE MISTAKE
The only track out of this collection of demos that we didn’t get around to learning live. Not sure it would have worked but I liked the idea. Kind of Nick Cave meets Caribou (or that’s what I had in my head). Very vitriolic lyrics – again vaguely political….maybe this album would have been our ‘What’s Going On?’. Maybe not. The guitars on this were so treated and effect-laden that you can’t really tell they’re guitars. There definitely would have been more of that going on. Again – synth bass and sampled drums. A club banger with Calvin Harris would have certainly been our next natural progression. It wouldn’t.

RE-ENACTMENT
This got one live outing at an acoustic gig in a church supporting the wonderful Smoke Fairies. From the same place as ‘All Be Gone…’. A simple but emotional piano ballad. I would have loved to record a real string section for this. Lyrically about a parent who’s child dies before them but really for anyone who has lost someone. Another chirpy subject as always. S Club we were not.

So there you go. That’s it.

On behalf of the entire band (Elliott, Rox, Dave, Ox, Jack & Keef…) – and all who sailed in her in the past (Emily, JD, Maff, Matt, Fozzy, Cal…) plus more who got involved (The Dawn Chorus lot, the Pie & Vinyl chaps, Old Blacksmiths Studios, people who guested, sang or played with us, bands we supported on tour and who supported us…) I’d like to thank everyone who ever came to see us or showed us support of any kind. We had some incredible times that will stay with me for my entire life.

The actual process of recording album 2 ended up taking far longer than we thought….around 18 months in total. It all gets a bit blurry as to what actually happened when and where but I’ll try and sum it up swiftly in the following format. Read it as quick as you can:

Except it wasn’t. As we were finishing the final notes two things occurred.

One was that my good friend from Uni, Mr Jake Gordon offered to mix the album and he had worked with some ace folks that year like Wild Beasts and Everything Everything. He also has golden ears and access to some incredible studios (and equipment) in London at his place of work so we knew it would sound far better than if it had just been left to me. We’d tracked a couple of early bits with Neil of 1st album infamy but he was so busy with the last DC album and The RSP we ended up doing a lot of it ourselves. The only issue was that Jake had to do it in his downtime which meant it was on a ‘as and when’ basis. Fair play to him though as it was a massive favour to us…just took a little longer than expected. All this drama also meant we binned off a lot of the songs that I had earmarked for the 3 act thing and honed it down what we thought were the best tunes. Thank God.

Two was that Jelly Maid Music, our label run from Old Blacksmiths by Rich Tamblyn, imploded as he sold the studio (to another good pal Whyntie – I told you Southsea was incestuos…) – we were now essentially homeless. Our fresh and spangly album finally ready in our hands and no way to release it. Balls. We hawked it around a few places to no avail and I was getting more and more down – so much hard work on something I was really proud of that no-one seemed to want. Sometimes you just need a helping hand and that came from a new and wondrous shop that had recently opened nearby. Pie & Vinyl. Exactly. What a place. They were lovely guys and we quickly became firm friends and occasional lovers. Steve from P&V told me that he wanted to start a label and so a plan was hatched for us to be the first release. It was an honour and exciting to be part of something up and coming, new and inspiring.

In the end, Record Store Day 2013 was chosen as the day of release and we pulled out all the stops to get it cut on actual vinyl, fulfilling one of my life goals. It’s another long story but we were still hand pressing the A & B side labels the night before release after a cock-up at the pressing plant. DIY til we die. Nothing is ever easy in this band. It never has been.

So…anyway…Chemikals….with a k. Why not? Jauntier than anything we’d previously done and benefiting greatly from the inclusion of Pauly B our favourite trumpeter as well as another friend Ken on Sax. The lyrics tell of how the main protagonist of the story (again, more on which later…) is a man controlled by his urges. After all, we’re all just chemical signals at the end of the day. Love, lust, fear etc….all just electrical flashes in the synapses of our silly brains. This being a human stuff is complex.

(Un)fortunately we filmed some of our recording process which I’ll put up in segments so you can see in to the dark corners of the minds of genius’s (genii?). It’s not just a bunch of twats playing Sweet Child o’ Mine constantly.

And below are 3 live cuts of the song from the Wedgewood Rooms in Southsea (w/ Pauly B), The Bull & Gate in Kentish Town and The Wheelbarrow in Camden…

I think this was my fourth or fifth time seeing the Icelandic dance-pop-rock-funk-world-metal-r&b’ers. Normally that array of words together in a sentence would send me fleeing for the hills but, since I first saw these a few years back, I’ve been absolutely hooked and have spread the good word Stefson high and low. Flamenco dance-offs and directional jumping at a gig are not something I generally participate in. I’m happy to say, however, that three members of the Bang were in attendance and all of us were flinging ourselves around like knobs.

#9) The Fall – Clapham Grand

A big tick off the list to finally see the genius of M.E.S live. Couldn’t make out a single word he said all night and spent a great deal of time chuckling as he stalked round the stage turning amps up and down, hanging his coat over drum microphones and generally arsing about. A birthday pressie from Bangman Rhodesy and a great evening out all round. I even ‘strawpedoed’ a Smirnoff Ice. Something I haven’t done for a good 10 years. Good pub opposite The Grand too.

#8) Everything Everything/Dutch Uncles – Portsmouth Pyramids

Birthday related fun once again (this time from the wondrous Mrs W…). Dutch Uncles were on ace form (I particularly enjoyed the midi glockenspiel and ‘interesting’ dance moves from singer Duncan…). Everything Everything have certainly come a long way since seeing them at The Fat Fox pub a few years ago. Thought they were great earlier in the year (or was it last year?) at The Wedgewood Rooms and they just seem to get better every time I see them. Stadia beckon soon I reckon. A total treat to see my favourite ditty ‘Nasa is on Your Side’ performed live as well.

#7) Lanterns on the Lake – Southampon Joiners/Southsea’s Pie & Vinyl

Couldn’t really separate these two performances though they were a few months apart. I was on sound duty for the P&V one and it was probably my favourite instore performance they’ve had in there so far (…even though my shitty old mixing desk broke meaning the band were without reverb….not ideal for LotL…sorry…).Hazel, though, has a stunning voice which carried things along nicely and the close proximity in P&V really suited the intimate, dreamy atmosphere. The gig at The Joiners meant that the slightly heavier, more up-tempo songs on the new album could sound as big as intended and they were very friendly folks too which is always a bonus.

#6) The National – Alexandra Palace, London

I’ve technically ‘seen’ The National once before at the incredible ATP festival they curated last year. However…it was at the end of my stag do. Three very…er…’powerful’ days forever etched in the mind (for good and bad reasons…I’m not sure I’ll ever recover…). Physically and mentally fatigued as I was, I perhaps didn’t fully enjoy the wonder of them live that first time round. For this one though, I made sure I was in full and rude health. They didn’t disappoint at all and the songs from the new album ‘Trouble Will Find Me’ really come in to their own live. Everyone seems to moan about Ally Pally as a venue as well but I really enjoyed and thought the sound was great inside.

#5) Olafur Arnalds/Douglas Dare – Brighton All Saints Church

A funny old gig for a couple of reasons. Firstly – it came at the end of a day xmas shopping in Brighton whereby we had all our newly purchased presses nicked whilst helping a cyclist after she’d had a horrible crash. PEOPLE. The gig itself though was in a spectacular setting and the calming music of piano, cello and violin, often in almost complete darkness, was incredible…UNTIL…utter dickheads with iPhones aloft, flashes on, and annoying camera sounds clicking away almost ruined every moment you felt like you could completely drift away. Could have been number one gig of the year otherwise. PEOPLE. WHAT A BUNCH OF BASTARDS.

#4) John Grant/Asgeir Trausti – Cambridge Junction

After discovering Icelander (I know….just for a change…) Asgeir Trausti last year, I was overjoyed to see that he was the support for the splendid John Grant on his UK tour. Turns out, John assisted in translating Asgeir’s debut album Dýrð í dauðaþögn (which is absolutely ace) into English for worldwide release next year. Both artists were amazing, chatty between songs and on top form (and I always enjoy a visit to Cambridge…mainly for Fopp and Nana Mexico’s). I am also everso partial to Mr Grant’s little shimmy betwixt synth and mic on the dancier songs.

#3) David Byrne & St Vincent – End of the Road

Lots of great performances at this cracking festival. David Byrne’s announcement over the PA prior to taking to the stage asking people not to take loads of photos or videos and to enjoy the music ‘in the moment’ (see Olafur above…) was a brilliant touch that i’m hoping will catch on. Annie Clark of St Vincent is one of my fave guitarists (and people in general) so to see her solo stuff combined with classic Talking Heads numbers, all played by a choreographed brass band is something to behold indeed. Electric.

#2) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Brighton Dome/Optimus Primavera

It’s Nick Cave for fucks sake.

#1) Danny Elfman/The BBC Symphonic Orchestra – Royal Albert Hall

I never thought I’d see the day. One of the greatest living composers (to my mind anyway) responsible for some of the most iconic film and TV music of recent times performing live. With a full orchestra. Themes from Edward Scissorhands, BeetleJuice, Batman, Corpse Bride and a host of others all played out in the beautiful surroundings of the Albert Hall. Simple images of concept drawings and early sketches displayed behind added to the uniqueness of the performance (though I heard one idiot complain afterwards that ‘the visuals could have been better’…WATCH THE ORCHESTRA YOU CLUNGE!). Even Helena Bonham Carter popped up to belt out a rendition of Sally’s Song from Nightmare Before Xmas to rapturous applause and Tim Burton said a few moving words about Danny at the end. Incredible.

* Efterklang, Sigur Ros (both of whom are only not in the top ten cos I’ve seen them before play better gigs), MONEY, Bo Ningen & PINS all at the amazing End of the Road (maybe my favourite UK festival)

* Deerhunter (‘we are a PROFESSIONAL ROCK OUTFIT’), Explosions in the Sky and Blur at Optimus Primavera (a shining example of why foreign festivals are often much better than our own)

* Snorri Helgason – KEX Hostel, Iceland

So there you have it. Albums of the year done. Gigs of the year done. What would your choices be?

PERHAPS THIS?????? TONIGHT!!!!!!!! COME AND FESTIVE IT RIGHT UP WITH US!!!!!!!!!

So….we’ve been busy beavering away in the background…and we’re finally surfacing for air…

We promised an announcement, and happily, like the proverbial bus, we have two pieces of good news for you (unless you don’t like us then it’s two pieces of bad news…)

ANNOUNCEMENT #1 – We will be playing an acoustic set at Pie & Vinyl on Sat 30th November. It’s an honour to play at our HQ/home/mothership again as it’s the official launch of their new, improved (and much bigger) premises. If you’ve not been in there yet then put this date in your diary as it will be splendid. I recommend the Matador pie. Tasty. It’s also the day after Black Friday which means lots of limited edition record releases etc…may still be there for your perusal.

ANNOUNCEMENT #2 – We will be hosting our annual Christmas Party at The Wedgewood Rooms on Wed 18th December with an absolutely stellar line up….this year we are ridiculously proud to present to you….

A CREEPY CHRISTMASstarring…

RALFE BAND

If anyone caught their P&V instore earlier this year you know what a treat you’re in for. Having just toured with The Young Knives and performed at a host of festivals (I caught their set at End of the Road and it was something to marvel at…) – the band have released four mighty fine albums of vivid, English madness. When not busy crafting folk-pop nuggets, front man Oli has soundtracked the Mighty Boosh affiliated film (the series in which he has also starred) ‘Bunny and the Bull’ as well as winning awards for his film-making.

MARY EPWORTH

We can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to have Mary come and play. Her debut album ‘Dream Life’ on the ace Hand of Glory label was a highlight of last year containing the 6Music-conquering single ‘Black Doe’ (an absolute stone cold classic in my eyes…). Blending dark-pysch-pop with bewitching fuzz-folk, her presence on the main stages of festivals like Hop Farm, Standon Calling and Bestival show she is a live force not to be missed.

JOE BLACK

This man should need no introduction. A legend of cabaret-noir, his songs of black humour and spine-tingling brilliance will have you begging for more. You’ll either be in hysterics or concerned for your safety but you certainly won’t forget it. Performing at such disparate events as the Kerrang Awards, the Torture Garden Nighclub and playing alongside Duke Special and…er…Toyah Wilcox(!), Joe’s chameleon-esque charm means that your xmas will be slightly more indecent this year. And that’s always a good thing right?

…and of course ourselves THE B OF THE BANG….we’ll be debuting lots of new material earmarked for album three and attempting to remember how many people we have in the band…

There will also be xmas ‘cheer’ (for ‘cheer’ read: ‘cantankerousness’..) a’plenty with mince pies, films, music, stalls and much more. We’re feeling the creepy, Victorian Xmas vibe in the air this year so dressing up is heartily encouraged…who knows, it might even win you a special prize or two…

Speaking of band members doing other stuff, I know this is the TBOTB blog but just wanted to point you towards a couple of those extra-curricular activities briefly (the rest of the band all do other stuff too, just this is mainly what’s going on at the moment…):

Being in a band can be a lot of things – invigorating, exciting, liberating, sexually arousing, annoying, incredibly frustrating and heartbreaking – but, ultimately – it’s never boring. This weekend just past proved that with aplomb. I love the word aplomb. Aplomb. Say it. Brilliant.

Friday was the usual ups and downs of playing in London involving a car crash en route (a fairly minor one but still one that wrote off our Ox’s car and meant we had to use a guitar lead to tie the boot shut to get to the gig…) and the standard, minimalistic London crowd. We played well though and it was a good warm up for the next days show which is probably in my top few of recent times….

Victorious Festival was organised by some of the fellows that run a couple of the decent boozers in Southsea – namely Little Johnny Russels and The Belle Isle (Fact #1 – I was the first person to play a gig in LJR’s when it opened….check me out…) and it’s always nice to be involved with something that brings together all the best bits about living in our community. The independent spirit shone through the whole weekend and it was pretty much a roaring success. I even finally got to see Reef!!! (Fact #2 – my first ever gig as a pimply young nipper should have been Reef at Southampton Guildhall and I bought 3 tickets off a tout…silly….only to give the 2 real ones to mates I’d gone with….mates who didn’t know who Reef were….mine was fake and I had to go home….alone…..sniff sniff…..lesson learned though….)

Anyway – our set drew a great crowd and having a decent sound system for a change really does help us with all our silly instrumentation etc…here’s a pic by our Retrospective Soundtrack Playing chum (and trumpeteer on ‘Chemikals’) Pauly B:

Sexy hat eh? EH?

The rest of the day was spent catching up with chums and wandering about enjoying the delights of Portsmouth Dockyard…the wonderful old ships of the Mary Rose, the Warrior & the Victory are certainly beautiful backdrops for a festival. Special mention also goes to All About Tea for supplying their top notch Portsmouth Tea blend when the queue for the Ale Tent was too long….oh and Day of the Rabblement sounded great on the acoustic stage too.

Our sexy lovers Pie & Vinyl where also there ‘representin their endz’ with a stall in the Smuggler’s Market. They asked us back on the Sunday to do a ‘secret’ unplugged set for them which was most enjoyable….mainly because rugby player Rob had to ask the Camp Cooks (the excellent on site Drag Queen caterers…) to turn their music off for a bit so myself and Elliott could fumble our way through some songs we rarely play. Here’s a pic by the ace Joe Watson (who did our ‘Wander’ vid and fronts ace hardcore band ‘Attack! Vipers!’):

special friends….and me still looking good in the hat…

Here too is a wee review from the wonderous (and fantastically named) music blog ‘Call Upon the Author’:

All this good cheer in the air has led me to think should give something back so we’ve made our twin EP’s from a couple of years back FREE to download for a while on our Soundcloud page. ‘

ART DECO’ is full band electric stuff and ‘ART NOUVEAU’ is stripped back acoustic stuff. Have a gander and see what you think. ‘Padre, oh Padre!’ on ‘ART NOUVEAU’ is one of my fave songs we’ve written but…for some reason…we’ve never played it live. Doubt we ever will either. Odd that.

Anyway – here they are for you:

…and…

So….finally…..that brings us to our next gig and one of our favourite events on the planet. The mighty Southsea Fest. I think we’re the only band who’s played every single one of these. God that makes us sound like seasoned veterans rather than the clueless amateurs we so successfully seem to portray on a daily basis. Best line-up yet too….

Well….what a couple of weeks it’s been….I’d use the term ’emotional rollercoaster’ but I’m not really a fan of that particular theme park ride so I’m going to go for….er…..what else has twists and turns? Perhaps a Paul Hollywood plaited loaf? Emotional loaf. That’s how I feel.

So. Against all odds (more of which in a mo…) our second album is finally out. To buy. On vinyl. Doesn’t it look purdy?

Tremors & Nosebleeds: The Melodies of a Malady

It’s £9.99 and comes with a free download code – you can purchase it here: http://thebofthebang.bigcartel.com/ (you can get it from iTunes, Amazon and all that too but it doesn’t look as nice as this does…)

Basically (and to cut a very long story short) we were originally promised the album was going to be baked (like Hollywood’s loaves again…), pressed and delivered the week before Record Store Day and in more than enough time for our album launch.

How wrong we were.

On the delivery date we were suddenly informed by the European pressing plant (I shan’t mention any names…) that we wouldn’t be receiving the records for another month! This pretty much rendered the whole shebang a wee bit pointless and, as might be expected, many swears were flung into the surrounding silence….

BUT

Up stepped a hero of a man, who did an absolutely Herculean job at wrenching us – battered, bruised and weeping – up from the gutter. Tim at Sound Performace. What an absolute legend. He worked tirelessly non-stop for us and pretty much cut, pressed and manufactured a record in a week. Outstanding. Our gratitude to him is endless. Many, many phone calls, emails, favours, handshakes, winks and secret nods were deployed and….Friday night (the night before Record Store Day) the band were in production plant mode gluing labels on, popping inlays in and printing off download codes left right and centre at our Pie & Vinyl Headquarters. DIY til we die. I want to thank all the P&V staff there for their help in the matter too…we couldn’t have done it without you. Steve, Rob, Rob, Roberta, Lydia & Kirsty. Thankyou.

No sleep and plenty of worried hours meant that things were pretty fraught in the camp for a while….a happy ending was much needed and by jingo we got it. First with the success of RSD at P&V where we played an instore acoustic set alongside Band of Skulls…(followed by an ace evening at The Registry where the documentary Last Shop Standing was shown featuring our own Pie & Vinyl peeps…)

The queue outside Pie & Vinyl whilst we played…

then….at our album launch at The Wedgewood Rooms on the Sunday night. It couldn’t have gone any better. I won’t forget that gig for a long time. We’ve played that particular venue a fair few times over the years in various bands but we’ve never actually headlined our own night there so it was a definite tick off the list. Cheers to Geoff at The Wedge for his help. The support bands were all absolutely incredible too. Revere, Hall of Mirrors, Billy Vincent, The Boy I Used to Be and Rich Keam. All of them friends from the last few years of touring around the UK. Everyone mucked in to help us make the place look nice and turn it into a bit of a different event than your normal, everyday gig too…

Amongst good company…

My incredible wife and her incredible cakes…

Roberta (of the ace band Curxes and P&V fame…) sold some of her excellent prints – she did the RSD and launch poster designs n’all…

Sorry Revere – I didn’t get a photo of you in action as I realised I’d left a lead we needed for our visuals at home! Here’s one of my wife’s cakes instead. (Rest assured Revere were amazing)

We played the new album in it’s entirity plus a few choice cuts from our first album and EP’s. Including a ridiculous, comedy Jools Holland-style ‘introductions segment’ where we all played the worst possible thing we could. Not entirely on purpose. Keef’s Jurassic Park solo was a highlight.

Here’s one of our new album tracks ‘Something is Holding Me Down’, filmed by the splendid Ryan (Revere’s visual fella and helper of me-not-knowing-what-I-was doing-with-a-laptop)

A massive thank you to everyone involved once again. Friends, family, staff and random strangers who all assisted us in creating what we hope was a unique and special night. It was to us anyway. HERE’S TO THE NEXT ALBUM EH???? (Hopefully it will be easier than this one…)

Wit & The B of the Bang

xxxxx

ps – as an aside, Mr Rich Keam who opened our show, has made it through to the final 25 applicants out of 600,000 in ‘The Best Jobs in the World’ competition. As part of this, we became his backing band ‘The Tastebuds’ for one night only last week…please have a look at his blog here and give him your support. He deserves it. http://richkeam.wordpress.com/

Secondly, the day after (Sunday 21st April) we will be having our big album 2 launch gig/mini-festival at The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth with support from some of our very favourite bands…it’s going to be a truly special day and we’d love to see you all there….tickets and details available here: http://tinyurl.com/BangWedge

AND FINALLY…..our very own Wit appeared on BBC6 Music’s Radcliffe and Maconie Show yesterday cramming in as much info about all the stuff above as possible whilst fulfilling a lifetime ambition appearing on their ace feature ‘The Chain’. His song choice? John Grant’s ‘Pale Green Ghosts’ (from The Walker Brothers ‘Make it Easy on Yourself’ – Ivor Raymonde arranged the strings for it and his son is Simon Raymonde who runs the Bella Union label…which John Grant is on). Listen again here (2 hours 14 minutes in):

THE BOY I USED TO BE: A smattering of lo-fi, two scoops of sweet melody and a hearty side helping of ace. You’ll definitely be asking for seconds.

BILLY VINCENT: Lashings of full on creamy folk rock, this is much more than your standard amuse bouche. Spicy vocal harmonies blend with rich velvety song-smithery. Pairs well with a fine Merlot.

THE HALL OF MIRRORS: Bold, ear-caressing flavours and subtle, left-field textures combine together beautifully for a full on wow factor with this course. Modern haute cuisine fused with classic cordon bleu piano-led wonder.

REVERE: The chefs have really pulled it out of the bag here. Every mouthful is full of satisfaction….depth, sweetness, spice and a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ mean that your palate really is in for a post-rock soundtrack treat of epic proportions. You might want to loosen your belt a little…

THE B OF THE BANG: Rich, meaty, avant-garde gravy smothering a moreish, sinful pop-pastry-cased surprise. The sound of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory if you poured it into your ear-pipes. Avoid if on a diet as TBOTB pack a weeks worth of aural calories into one song.

There will also be stalls selling bric-a-brac, nik-naks and other such trinkets and curio in a setting that will hopefully inspire and enhance your evenings specially selected 6 course sonic-dinner.